Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lever device, and in detail, to a lever device for a vehicle.
Description of the Related Art
A vehicle is provided with an operation instruction device (lever device) equipped with an operation lever and a plurality of switches, as a device that inputs operation instructions to an illuminating device, a wiper device, a directional indicator (winker) and the like. FIGS. 9A and 9B show an operation lever in a conventional operation instruction device. As shown in FIG. 9A, an operation lever 1a is formed by plastic molding, and a hollow portion 2a along an axial direction of the operation lever 1a is formed inside the operation lever 1a. The operation lever 1a has an end portion (hereinafter, called one end portion), which is provided with a push switch 3 and rotary switches 4 that are operated by an operator, at the opposite side to an end portion in a steering column side (hereinafter, called the other end portion) in a vehicle.
The push switch 3 is fitted in the one end portion of the hollow portion 2a to be fixed thereto, and the rotary switch 4 is fitted in an outer peripheral portion of the one end portion in the operation lever 1a to be fixed thereto. The operation lever 1a has the other end portion provided with an opening portion 6a formed therein, and has the hollow portion 2a where a harness 5 is wired through the opening portion 6a. 
The harness 5 connects the push switch 3 and the rotary switches 4 to an unillustrated controller in the vehicle body. In such a conventional operation lever 1a, since the operation lever 1a protects the harness 5, damages of the harness 5 are prevented. However, a lid is not provided in the opening portion 6a to make the inside of the operation lever 1a viewable, and therefore there is a problem that a visual quality of the operation lever 1a is low.
Therefore, an operation lever in which a lid is provided in the opening portion is proposed. FIG. 9B is a schematic diagram showing this operation lever 1b. The operation lever (lever member) 1b is formed by plastic molding, and is provided with an opening portion 6b and a hollow portion 2b as similar to the above-mentioned operation lever 1a. The operation lever 1b is provided with a lid 7 fixed to the opening portion 6b, and the low visual quality thereof is improved by covering at least a part of the harness 5 or the hollow portion 2b with this lid 7. It should be noted that, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-260265 describes this kind of prior art.
In a case of this operation lever, however, the lid only covers the opening portion, and strength in the mounting portion between the operation lever and the lid is low. Therefore when a bending moment acts on the lid by a swing operation of the operation lever or the like, damages are generated in the mounting portion between the operation lever and the lid due to the stress, thereby creating a possibility that the lid drops down from the opening portion. Therefore in a case of the operation lever 1b shown in FIG. 9B, the lid 7 is fixed by a screw 8, but a head portion of the screw 8 is exposed from the surface of the operation lever 1b. As a result, there is a problem that the low visual quality of the operation lever 1b can not be solved completely. Therefore it is required to mount the lid to the opening portion of the lever member without dropping down therefrom or deteriorating the visual quality.